A good friend of mine owns a sizable portion of land in Tazewell, TN. Before his mother died recently, Mike lived in a house on his cousin's land which borders his own, in exchange for "keeping an eye on the place". He had lived there for several years, and wasn't plagued by strange happenings, but he had his share.

Let me start by saying that this particular house has no real history of paranormal activity that I can tell from the people I've talked to. There have been numerous incidents involving the house experienced by my friend, his wife, her mother and brother, and my friend's 2 year old son, myself, etc., etc.

These particular incidents involving myself started about four years ago, while I was staying overnight with Mike, having finished a project we were working on too late to drive back to Knoxville (my home). I bedded down in a sleeping bag next to a softly glowing wood stove (during the dead of winter). Sometime during the night I was awakened by someone coming through the dining area toward the kitchen and into the bathroom. I paid it no mind, except to playfully berate my friend for waking me up as he answered a call of nature. When he said he hadn't been up, I thought he was joking at first. I told him what I'd heard and seen; he asked his wife if she'd been up. She said no. This was the first of two incidents before their child was born. (Did I mention we were the only three in the house?)

A few weeks later, I was back up at their home. After finishing work, we stood in their living room as I took my leave of them. I faced the dining area where I'd seen/heard the person come through a few weeks before. Looking at Mike and his wife, I could see the doorway peripherally, and noticed movement from the left door jamb. When I looked directly at the doorway, something seemed to duck back behind the wall to the left. We of course investigated, but nothing was there. I mentioned again the incident of a few weeks earlier, and Mike said his wife, Janie, had seen something in the interim. She woke up late one night and saw an old woman standing over their bed. Janie seems to be unusually sensitive to these kinds of things; she's had experiences enough to make one wonder how she hasn't gone crazy.

Their young boy, Gavin, apparently saw someone or something just after he'd turned two. Janie's brother was home babysitting one afternoon. Gavin was sitting on the living room floor playing, Jimmy was reading on the couch. Jimmy said Gavin started laughing suddenly, and Jimmy looked over at him. He said Gavin was staring through the dining room doorway (see a pattern here?) through to the kitchen and waving, like someone had come in the back door. Jimmy got up and checked, no one was there and the door was locked. Gavin had just learned the patented "child wave", the opening and closing of a fist in the air. A few weeks later, Jimmy came in the front door with Gavin in his arms. Although the door between the living room and dining room was never closed, it was when he came in. Gavin started laughing, looking toward the closed door. Light from the dining room was visible under the door; when Jimmy walked toward it, he saw a shadow block the light. He went to open the door, thinking it was Janie or Mike; he got the door open about an inch when it was shoved back toward him. He shoved harder, and the door opened, revealing....you guessed it. Nothing.

Many more minor things have happened, but because there were so many I can't remember 'em all. This is my first story to the list, hope I haven't hacked anybody off because of the length. Over the past 20 years or so, I've experienced and heard a lot of different unusual things. Most people aren't receptive to this kind of thing, and if they are, they're skeptical at best, so it's a joy to find a forum like this.